Victor Gruschka Springer is Senior Scientist emeritus, Division of Fishes at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is a specialist in the anatomy, classification, and distribution of fishes, with a special interest in tropical marine shorefishes. He has published numerous scientific studies on these subjects; also, a popular book called "Sharks in Question, the Smithsonian Answer Book" 1989.
Collared wrigglers are perciform fishes in the family Xenisthmidae. They are native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where they are mostly reef-dwelling.
The broadnose wedgefish is a species of fish in the Rhinidae family. It is found in coastal and estuarine habitats in southeast Asia, where documented from Java, Borneo, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand. It is threatened by habitat loss and overfishing. This is a medium-sized species of Rhynchobatus, which reaches a maximum length of about 2.15 m (7.1 ft).
Eleotris pellegrini is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to Madagascar where it can be found in mangrove swamps. This species can reach a length of 23 cm (9.1 in). The specific name honours the French ichthyologist Jacques Pellegrin (1873-1944), who discovered this species in 1933 but thought that it was Eleotris vittata.
The Mitchell gudgeon is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to the Kimberley region of Australia, where it is only known from the Mitchell River system. This species can reach a length of 4 cm (1.6 in). The specific name honours the ichthyologist J. Barry Hutchins of the Western Australian Museum, who collected the type.
Milyeringa is a genus of blind cavefish from the Cape Range and Barrow Island, northwestern Australia. Although traditionally considered to belong to the family Eleotridae, studies show that they represent a distinct and far-separated lineage together with the Typhleotris cavefish from Madagascar, leading some to move them to their own family, Milyeringidae. The generic name is taken from Milyering which is 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Vlamingh Head in the North West Cape of Western Australia, the type locality for Milyeringa veritas.
Ratsirakia legendrei is a species of fish in the family Eleotridae endemic to fresh waters of Madagascar. This species can reach a length of 17 cm (6.7 in). It is the only known member of its genus. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Ratsirakia, the name of which honours Didier Ratsiraka who was President of Madagascar from 1975-1993 and from 1997-2002 while the specific name refers to the French physician Jean Legendre who discovered the species while serving with French colonial troops in Madagascar.
Typhleotris pauliani is a critically endangered species of fish in the family Milyeringidae that is endemic to Madagascar, where it is only known from a few caves and sinkholes in the southwestern portion of the island. This blind cavefish lacks pigmentation and can reach a standard length of 7.1 cm (2.8 in). It feeds on invertebrates and guano. Part of its range receive some protection, but the species is threatened by disturbance from recreational activities and collectors of guano. The specific name honours the French entomologist and former deputy director of the Institut de recherche pour le développement in Madagascar, Renaud Paulian (1913-2003), who collected the type specimens as well as contributing a lot to the knowledge of the biogeography of the western Indian Ocean.
Cirripectes springeri, Springer's blenny or the spotted eyelash blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the western Pacific ocean. This species reaches a length of 10 centimetres (3.9 in) TL. The specific name honours the American ichthyologist Victor G. Springer of the United States National Museum who has worked extensively on blennies.
Hypleurochilus springeri, the orange-spotted blenny, is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Caribbean Sea. This species grows to a length of 5 centimetres (2.0 in) TL. The specific name honours the American ichthyologist Victor G. Springer.
Petroscirtes springeri is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the northwest Pacific ocean. This species reaches a length of 7.7 centimetres (3.0 in) SL. The specific name honours the American ichthyologist Victor G. Springer of the United States National Museum, it was Springer who first introduced the author to the blenniids and who suggested the study in which Smith-Vaniz described this species.
Scartella springeri is a species of combtooth blenny found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, around St. Helena. This species reaches a length of 8.2 centimetres (3.2 in) SL. The specific name honours the American ichthyologist Victor G. Springer of the U.S. National Museum.
Coralliozetus springeri is a species of chaenopsid blenny found in coral reefs from Costa Rica to Ecuador in the eastern central Pacific ocean. It can reach a maximum length of 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) TL. This species feeds primarily on zooplankton. The specific name honours the ichthyologist Victor G. Springer of the US National Museum.
Dorothea's wriggler, Allomicrodesmus dorotheae, is a species of fish in the monotypic genus Allomicrodesmus which is regarded by some authorities as being in the family Xenisthmidae, the wriggler family, but in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World this is treated as a synonym of the family Eleotridae, sleeper gobies. It is 5 cm (2.0 in) in length. It is known from just two specimens, one from the Great Barrier Reef and the other from the Marshall Islands. It has been collected from a depth of around 10 m (33 ft) in a channel in a reef. The specific name honours Dorothea Bowers Schultz, the wife of Leonard Peter Schultz, who illustrated the monograph in which this species is described, although not this species.
Rotuma lewisi, or Lewis's wriggler, is a species of fish in the family Xenisthmidae, which is regarded as a synonymous with the Eleotridae. Rotuma is a monotypic genus. The generic name refers to the volcanic island of Rotuma, north of Fiji while the specific name honours Anthony D. Lewis, a Fisheries Officer of the Government of Fiji who supported Springer's field work in Fiji. It has been recorded from Fiji, Tonga, the Santa Cruz Islands, the Comoros Islands, and the Chesterfield Islands.
Helcogramma springeri, known commonly as the Springer's triplefin, is a species of triplefin blenny in the genus Helcogramma. It was described by P.E. Hadley Hansen in 1986. The specific name honours the ichthyologist Victor G. Springer of the National Museum of Natural History. This species is found in the western Pacific Ocean from Indonesia and the Philippines to northern Australia, including the Great Barrier Reef.
Paraxenisthmus is a genus of goby from the western Pacific. They were classified as being in the family Xenisthmidae but this family is regarded as a synonym of the Eleotridae.
Caecieleotris morrisi, also known as the Oaxaca cave sleeper is a species of troglobitic fish in the family Eleotridae found in a single cave system beneath Presa Miguel Alemán reservoir, northern State of Oaxaca in Mexico. This species is the only member of its genus.
Milyeringidae, the blind cave gobies, is a small family of gobies, in the order Gobiiformes. There are two genera and six species within the family, which is considered to be a subfamily of the Eleotridae by some authorities. Milyeringidae includes one genus (Milyeringa) restricted to caves in the North West Cape region of Australia and the other (Typhleotris) to underground water systems in Madagascar. They are all troglobitic species and have lost their eyes.
Paraxenisthmus cerberusi is a species of fish in the genus Paraxenisthmus of the Xenisthmidae (wriggler) family, which is regarded as a synonymous with the Eleotridae, from Palau and Fiji in the West Pacific. Its specific name refers to Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guards the entrance to Hades in Greek mythology, given to this species because of its relatively large number of teeth and in reference to the black juveniles and the red and black adults, the colours of which are associated with Hell in Christianity. This small fish was found in a drop-off which had caves and ledges with shelves and slopes covered in silt and sand. The area had growths of hydroids, sea fans, a range of hard corals and some Halimeda.
